3 Last-minute strategies for Small Business Saturday
Looking to capture your share of shoppers this holiday weekend? Encourage your customers to #shopsmall this Small Business Saturday.
Started in 2010, Small Business Saturday taps into the local shopping movement, encouraging people to spend with small businesses in their hometowns the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It isn’t too late to encourage shoppers in your area to spend their hard-earned holiday cash with you this weekend. Here are three last-minute strategies to take advantage of this shoppers’ holiday.
Tip #1: Create free collateral
Jumpstart your last-minute promo by creating free, personalized marketing materials at http://amex.co/1p0v2Yv. American Express OPEN has a full toolbox of materials to help your dealership promote Small Business Saturday. Create free online ads, printable signage and get listed on the Shop Small map.
Tip #2: Invite your community to shop small
If you don’t already have a Black Friday email blast cued up and ready to roll, send a Small Business Saturday message instead. Consider offering your loyal customers a small gift for bringing a friend who’s never shopped with you into the dealership on Small Business Saturday and/or offer a flash sale on PG&A that’s good for one day only. Don’t forget to share your promotions on your website and your social media channels using the #shopsmall hashtag to amplify your message.
Tip #3: Call your local news teams
Can you imagine a better news segment than Santa pulling up to your dealership in on a vintage bike with a sidecar stuffed with gifts to shop locally in your community? If you don’t have a relationship with your local TV and radio stations, use this excuse to introduce yourself and invite a local anchor or DJ down to the shop to use the festive atmosphere you’ve created for Small Business Saturday to highlight this local alternative to Black Friday.
Get cracking! While you’ve only got a few days, there is still plenty of time to connect with new customers this Small Business Saturday!
Colleen Brousil is ARI’s director of marketing. Brousil has more than a decade of experience in the powersports industry and previously served as the editor of Motorcycle & Powersports News. ARI creates award-winning software solutions that help equipment manufacturers, distributors and dealers Sell More Stuff! — online and in-store. ARI removes the complexity of selling and servicing new and used inventory, parts, garments and accessories for customers in automotive tire and wheel, powersports, outdoor power equipment, marine, RV and white goods industries. More than 22,000 equipment dealers, 195 distributors and 140 manufacturers worldwide leverage ARI’s website and eCatalog platforms to Sell More Stuff!
Email: cbrousil@arinet.com
Phone: 414/973-4323
Website: arinet.com
Colleen,
As always great advice.
Let me suggest something we did for many years that initially sounds like a disconnect. We used our relationship with a commercial landscaper and offered our “better location for him” use of our parking lot for his X Mass tree sales.
The X Mass spirit grew and many customers that never would stop by our Dealership were drawn in. The store of course carried the X Mass décor inside and our market so expanded.